GR v Secretary, Department of Family and Community Services and Justice

The Court of Appeal of New South Wales considered an appeal by a mother against the summary dismissal of her summons seeking to set aside an interim care order. The interim care order had conferred parental responsibility for her child on the Minister, following the child's diagnosis with a condition requiring medical intervention. The primary judge had dismissed the mother's summons, finding she had not shown sufficient cause why the proceedings should not be dismissed.

The central legal issues before the Court of Appeal were whether the primary judge erred in summarily dismissing the mother's summons, and whether the mother had an arguable case for setting aside the interim care order. This involved considering the obligations of the court towards a self-represented litigant and the threshold for demonstrating an arguable case in such circumstances.

The Court of Appeal found that the primary judge had erred in dismissing the summons summarily. It reasoned that the mother, as a self-represented litigant, was entitled to a proper hearing of her case, and that her amended summons did raise arguable grounds for challenging the interim care order. The court applied principles relating to the court's duty to a self-represented litigant and the requirements for summary dismissal, concluding that the threshold for dismissal had not been met.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, setting aside the primary judge's order dismissing the summons. The court granted the mother leave to appeal, treated her draft notice of appeal as filed, and ordered that the respondents pay the applicant's costs in the Court of Appeal.